Do you know what you are doing at 3.00 pm today? Probably yes.
Do you know what you would be doing at 3.00 pm 2 months from now? I make sure, I do.
That brings me to discuss, “Can life be automated?” Not always, but most of the times.
Truly speaking, surprises, accidents, contingencies, unpredictable events only form 10% of our lives. The rest of the 90% can be predicted and hence automated.
But there is no single form of automation. I use different ways to automate my life.
Scheduling
I am a calendar person. Everything about my life is pretty much on my calendar. And this is synced to all devices that I get to access. It is a life saver for someone like me with a crowded mind and poor memory.
Scheduling tasks, events, my kids classes, their goals, time with family helps me with two things:
- Shows me like a mirror, how much time am I spending on what and if that is fair according to my standards.
- It removes all the distraction and thinking time that goes wasted into thinking ‘what’s next?’
In a sense, scheduling puts me into FLOW something that I would otherwise struggle to achieve.
I schedule my social media posts, my blog posts, video scripting sessions, my networking sessions, (that’s all I can recall for now)
Anchoring
I find anchors in habits, routines, people, and objects to ensure that I don’t miss out on good and necessary habits.
- Writing has an anchor – Before clocking into work
- Reading has an anchor – After my kids sleep
- Work out has an anchor – Before breakfast, my dumbles and yoga mat is in my home office room.
- Movie has an anchor – Reminder on Friday
Rules Engine
I set rules to follow.
- To convert tasks into blocked events on my calendar.
- Seasons into activities. For eg the festive season in Shravan maas (around monsoon and after) is my heavy cleaning time. I have a monsoon clearance.
- Last week of the month is my planning week.
- Last quarter of the year is my rotating vision board quarter.
I would love to learn how do you automate your life to make it more productive.